Illinois could ease pot penalties

Correctional facilities in Illinois are over capacity, and supporters say a bill under consideration in Springfield would help reduce the prison population.

House Bill 218, introduced by Rep. Kelly Cassidy of Chicago, would decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Bryant Jackson Green, Criminal Justice policy analyst for the Illinois Policy Institute, says it would help to redirect criminal-justice resources to focus on crimes with more victims and public safety risks than marijuana possession.

“We only incarcerated around a few thousand people in the 1970s but that number has increased seven-fold to over 48,000 people today,” Green says. “So this is sort of one small step to getting us back toward focusing on streamlining and reducing our prison population. It’s not just about this one drug. “

If passed, HB 218 would punish marijuana possession under 30 grams — a little more than an ounce — with a fine of $100, and would lower penalties for possession of over 30 grams but less than 500 grams, or about a pound. Currently possession of 30 grams of marijuana is punishable by up to one year in prison.

Marijuana possession already has been decriminalized in more than a dozen states and Washington, D.C.

Green says Illinois has the fifth-highest arrest rate for marijuana possession and those arrests disproportionately falls on minority communities.

“It does matter that these are the people that tend to be punished most for this crime and it affects your ability to later on go on and find employment, get admission to college, to apply for student loans,” he says. “It can have a really big impact on your future career prospects.”

Green says there are economic benefits to locking up fewer people.

Research from the Vera Institute found it cost more than $38,000 a year to imprison someone in Illinois and Green says the state’s prison system is more than 150 percent of capacity.